Saturday, November 7, 2015

Bani mayor tagged as ‘gun-for-hire’ coddler

For three long years, Bani, Pangasinan mayor Gwen Palafox Yamamoto coddled a relative who had been wanted by the police for a series of murder cases.

Bani Mayor Gwen Palafox Yamamoto

This was what a police report revealed last week, when it informed the public that Hadji Palafox, alias “Chokoy/Sukoy,” long hunted for alleged involvement in a string of murder cases in Ilocos Norte, was arrested in Bani last Nov. 1, a day traditionally celebrated as “Feast of the Dead.”
The police report said Palafox, 38, was a resident of Badoc, Ilocos Norte, a place where Yamamoto’s parental roots originated.
Palafox was nabbed by police operatives by virtue of an arrest warrant issued by Ilocos Norte Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 65 Judge Manuel Argel, Jr.
At the time of his arrest, Palafox was included in the police’s list of “gun-for-hire operatives,” particularly in the RTC’s Criminal Case No. 4747-18. No bail was recommended for the case.
Palafox went into hiding since 2001 following the murder of Ilocos Judge Ariston Rubio on Oct. 31, 2001.
Still to be verified reports said the Rubio murder suspect went to Bani three years ago and sought refuge in the Yamamoto household.
With his credentials, Palafox was made as “close-in bodyguard” of Mayor Yamamoto whose husband, a major in the Philippine Air Force, used to be a “junior military aide de camp” of President Aquino III.
The Ilocos Norte police took custody of Palafox after his arrest and is now detained at the provincial jail in Laoag City.